Financial 411: Revising the Nation's Tax Code

Murdoch

Murdoch Launches The Daily
It's a stand-alone newspaper, minus the paper. With much fanfare today, News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch launched The Daily, a news product designed specifically for Apple's hot-selling iPad.Murdoch Launches The Daily
It's a stand-alone newspaper, minus the paper. With much fanfare today, News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch launched The Daily, a news product designed specifically for Apple's hot-selling iPad. 

"Our aim is for The Daily to be the indispensable source for news, information and entertainment," he said.

A week's subscription through iTunes will cost less than most songs — just 99 cents — and a lot less than another News Corporation property, The Wall Street Journal, which goes for $3.99 a week. Murdoch said skipping the paper in newspapers makes the operation much cheaper.

AOL Promises 2011 Turnaround

The CEO of AOL insists his company will make a turnaround in 2011. AOL saw its ad revenue plunge 29 percent during the last quarter of 2010, to $331.6 million. But AOL's Tim Armstrong said the days of massive layoffs are over, and the company is poised to see growth in the second half of the year.

Markets

Markets barely moved today. The Dow gained two points, to close at 12,042. The S&P 500 lost four points, closing at 1,304. The Nasdaq closed at 2,750, after losing one point. 

How Difficult is Simplifying the Nation's Tax System?

The federal corporate tax rate is 35 percent. Yet studies show that the average corporation pays a lot less than that after taking advantage of complicated rules and exemptions in the tax code. In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama blamed lobbyists, saying they had "rigged" the tax code to benefit particular companies and industries.

"Those with accountants or lawyers to work the system can end up paying no taxes at all," he said. "But all the rest are hit with one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world."

David Leonhardt writes the "Economic Scene" column in the New York Times, and he's been looking at the strategies companies use to avoid taxes — and why some do it better than others. He talks about the most common way corporations reduce their taxes, and the difficulties involved in simplifying the nation's tax system.